


Queen of Pentacles

by yokainomiko



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Business Deals, Coarse language in the beginning, F/M, Former possessive behavior, Growing Up, Self Prostitution Offer, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 01:57:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17819645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yokainomiko/pseuds/yokainomiko
Summary: Rufus grew up. He's kinder, more generous, but still in love. Yuffie is kinder and more generous too. But she still doesn't love him back.





	Queen of Pentacles

**Author's Note:**

> A few years ago I got super into the idea of one sided RufusxYuffie and I've always loved marriage of convenience so here we go.

“So, what do you think?” Yuffie smiles sheepishly.

What a chance. This is something that Rufus has wanted for years, an opportunity.

“What is the benefit of ShinRa “investing” in Wutai?”

“If you give Wutai the money to rebuild, I’ll do anything. I’ll marry you. I’ll be your mistress. I’ll marry your mistress. I’ll carve your name on my forehead. I’d fuck you. I’d let you gangbang me. I’d chop off my arm. I’d gouge out my eye. I’d do everything I just mentioned. I’ll really do _anything_.”

But she won’t look at him like he hung the moon and the stars in the sky just for her. She won’t smile happily when carrying his, _their_ , child. She won’t let him make love to her or glow on their wedding day. 

She wouldn’t love him.

The worst part of the whole thing is that he loves her. Truly loves her. Would sell his soul for a smile and would get Geostigma again if it meant she’d never want for anything.

When he was younger he didn’t think that way. He hadn’t learned how to love her properly yet. He had been fixated on power and using conquest to keep the important things. He would’ve kept her tied to him with any excuse possible. He would’ve been selfish. Rufus kind of wishes he was still that immature.

“Well?” Yuffie asks, impatiently, always impatiently.

“I accept.”

“Accept? Accept what? What do you want me to do?”

“Be my personal assistant for five years,” Rufus blurts out. “Follow me to all of my business meetings, eat all of my meals with me, become so ingrained in my life that when the five years are over you can’t imagine leaving me.”

“You want me to be your _secretary_?” she yells. “Actually, scratch that. You want me to be your wife with the _title_ of secretary! What the fuck?!”

Rufus chooses his words carefully. “You know I would give you the money for nothing.”

She glares. “I don’t want _charity_ , Rufus. My people may be poor, but I have my pride.”

“I’m well aware. This is my compromise. I won’t lock you into an unhappy marriage. I want you to marry for love. I want you to be happy.”

“What?” Yuffie’s eyes are wide. “But, why?”

“You know why.”

“But, you wouldn’t have cared before!”

“I’ve grown up. You wouldn’t be here at all if you hadn’t done the same,” Rufus can’t help but snap back. Yes, he’d been stupid before, but quite a bit has happened since Meteor.

Yuffie is silent.

“I don’t love you,” she quietly states.

“I know,” he calmly replies. The reply makes him sound calmer than he is.

Yuffie bites her lip. It’s an endearing habit that she didn’t use to have.

When she thinks, he remembers how if this had been even two years earlier he would have jumped on the opportunity. He would’ve cut out her tongue so that she couldn’t talk to anyone else. He would’ve taken out her eyes so she couldn’t look at anyone but him. He would’ve tied her to him so thoroughly that she’d never be able to leave him, not because of devotion or habit but because there would be no one else for her to have.

But she wouldn’t be happy. And Rufus knows that if _he_ wants to be happy, she needs to be as well.

“Here’s my counter-offer…” she starts. “I’ll eat a lunch or a dinner with you every week until the money is paid back. We’ll have to take turns being inconvenienced in terms of who goes to who.”

Her formal speech belies how serious her offer is. Rufus and Yuffie both know that she’ll never be able to pay him back in full.

“Are you sure? Once we make the formal agreement, you won’t be able to back out of it.”

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t willing.”

It’s a tempting offer. It’s the most of her he’ll ever have in all likelihood. 

...surely he can be a little selfish?

“I’ll have one of my lawyers draw up the paperwork,” Rufus agrees.

Yuffie lets out a breath that he didn’t even notice she was holding in. “Okay. Okay.” She smiles weakly. “Let’s do this!”

**Author's Note:**

> Holy crap, I wrote this 5-1/2 years ago. There's a good amount of fanfiction I never posted anywhere. I will make an effort to do so this year. Titling fics is hard.
> 
> I made this mature because I read parts of it to my sister and she said I needed to warn her before I read that kind of stuff to her, but I have no idea if it needs a mature rating or not.


End file.
